Paying The Bills - Do You Click Ads? Does Mumsnet make much from Ads?

[nannynick]

I was wondering how users can best support Mumsnet, following on from the recent (now abandoned) trial of inline text ads.

Justine mentioned that if users shop with Shopping Partners (you have to click the appropriate imagelink), then that helps Mumsnet pay the bills.

I would expect that by using Shopping Partners, mumsnet gets more revenue, than if a user clicks a top-of-page banner ad... is that right, or are banner ads paying good amounts these days for click-throughs?

Perhaps by telling users more about how the advertising on Mumsnet works, then users will know how they can better support Mumsnet. Clearly clicking on any advert helps... but I expect some pay mumsnet more than others!

Personally I have clicked on a banner ad, but I can't say it happens very often.

For my Christmas shopping, I am going to try to use Shopping Partners] where possible.

The suggestion of having a Paid Membership to Mumsnet has cropped up several times now... perhaps that is one way forward - paying a monthly/yearly fee in exchange for not being shown ANY banner ads.

Anyone got any other ideas on what would help Mumsnet pay it's bills?

Anyone got any views regarding adverts appearing on Mumsnet?

I would definately pay a fee NOT to see adverts, I hate them.

clicking alone does NOT help.i think that was mentionedin the thread you are talking about. you have to buy something.

I think a fee would put ppl off MN - both a good and a bad thing imo.

you can pay for CAT, there is always someone suggesting a fee for buyingand selling

For Shopping Partners, certainly clicking alone will do nothing, you have to actually buy something - then mumsnet gets either a set payment, or a percentage I guess.

For banner ads, I would expect that a 'valid click' is all that is required for mumsnet to be paid, but I expect the payouts are low.

With regard to banner ads, I also suspect that some advertisers may pay on a per 1000 impressions basis, so there is a fixed income for mumsnet, regardless of if anyone clicks the ad or not.

Mumsnet HQ - can you confirm how advertising works? Is it click-through, or per 1000 impressions for banner ads?

Does anyone use any form of Browser Toolbar? Perhaps Mumsnet could have it's own Toolbar, with quick links to sections, and to shopping partners.

Good idea, or bad one?

We're redoing the shopping page so it's a bit more navigable. Much of the banner advertising on the other pages is cpm - cost per thousand page impressions (ie page views).

It helps to fill out surveys, buy from the shopping page, buy from our discount partners (there are some good deals on there, too!) and just keep reading and posting!

If there's someone you'd like to see, please do let us know and we'll see what we can do.

Oh, sorry - crossposted with you guys.

The browser toolbar is a bit much for us right now, time-wise, as we're rolling out new Talk improvements which are fab. But it's worth looking into for the future (must.. not... google.. it.. right.. now..)

We'd never require people to pay to use Mumsnet, but have thought about having a paid subscription where you could get the site without the ads.